


Focal Point

by eos_3



Category: Last Exile
Genre: Denial, F/M, Gen, Loss, Obsession, Revenge, Self-Denial
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-24
Updated: 2006-09-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 02:36:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2835008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eos_3/pseuds/eos_3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex doesn't just value Sophia for her skills, but for the reminder of just how much he has left to atone for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Focal Point

Even if guilt drove his hope, spurred by a need for vengeance, Alex would never fully believe Euris gone. He might not even believe it if he found her body. He searched, he hoped, he clung to his delusion, but even that had to be put aside so that he could make reparations in another way.

Ruled by a madwoman, a monster, who carried one of the keys to Exile, the Guild would fall, would be crushed. He would have her key, one way or another; destroy her and her tyranny, if it cost him his last breath.

Sophia would be angry with him over that last bit, of course - which meant he didn't share these thoughts with her. By some twist of fate, Sophia had decided to love him, a love he had no right to, couldn't allow himself to reciprocate. For now, he wouldn't shatter her illusions, if she didn't complicate his.

Difficult in cramped quarters, but, in a way, having Sophia aboard kept him focused. The very resemblance she carried to her cousin, gave him a living reminder of what he longed for. What he had abandoned in his cowardice. What he no longer deserved.

Euris - he wondered often, whether in this life or the next, how Euris could ever forgive him. How he could forgive himself for existing in a world where Dephine managed live another day and Euris did not?

And Sophia, she had Euris' brave heart, her unshakeable resolve; she beckoned her ghost, made it tangible. He owed it to Euris to protect her. She would be proud of Sophia, he knew, of the girl the crew had watched blossom, away from the court and the poisonous tongues of her father's friends.

The thought came back around again to him, that Euris might still live. He owed it to her to try; to try and find her living and breathing, or to put her cold bones in the ground, he had to try. He had to look, he had to hope, like Sophia hoped, for the impossible.


End file.
